Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said on April 29 that bilateral agreements with the United States were “very, very close” as Riyadh seeks to secure defense and security pacts with the kingdom in exchange for normalizing relations with Israel, Report informs referring to Al Monitor.
"On the bilateral agreements between the kingdom and the US, we are very, very close, and most of the work has already been done. We have the broad outlines of what we think needs to happen on the Palestinian front,” the top Saudi diplomat said at a special meeting of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh.
He added that the only way such agreements would work is if there is “truly a pathway to a Palestinian state.”
In similar comments, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said a US-Saudi security pact with Saudi Arabia was near “completion.”
Speaking on a WEF panel on Monday, he said, “The work that Saudi Arabia and the United States have been doing together in terms of our own agreements, I think, is potentially very close to completion.”
He added, “But then in order to move forward with normalization, two things will be required: calm in Gaza and a credible pathway to a Palestinian state.”